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Upon the defeat of Germany (Italy having already surrendered), celebrations erupted throughout the world. From Moscow to Los Angeles, people cheered. In the United Kingdom, more than one million people celebrated in the streets to mark the end of the European part of the war. In London, crowds massed in Trafalgar Square and up The Mall to Buckingham Palace, where King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prime MinisterWinston Churchill, appeared on the balcony of the Palace before the cheering crowds. Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth II) and her sister Princess Margaret were allowed to wander incognito among the crowds and take part in the celebrations.[2]

In the United States, the victory happened on President Harry Truman's 61st birthday.[3] He dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage less than a month earlier, on 12 April.[4] Flags remained at half-mast for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period.[5][6] Truman said of dedicating the victory to Roosevelt's memory and keeping the flags at half-mast that his only wish was "that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day."[4] Later that day, Truman said that the victory made it his most enjoyable birthday.[3]

As the Soviet representative in Reims had no authority to sign the German instrument of surrender, the Soviet leadership proposed to consider Reims surrender as a "preliminary" act. The surrender ceremony was repeated in Berlin on May 8, where the instrument of surrender was signed by supreme German military commander Wilhelm Keitel, by Georgy Zhukov and Allied representatives. Since the Soviet Union was to the east of Germany, it was 9 May Moscow Time when the German military surrender became effective, which is why Russia and most of the former Soviet republics commemorate Victory Day on 9 May instead of 8 May.

United Kingdom: In 1995 the May DayBank Holiday was moved from the first Monday in May, May 1, to Monday 8 May, for that year only, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War.

East Germany as Tag der Befreiung (Day of Liberation), a public holiday from 1950 to 1966 and in 1985. Between 1975 and 1990, as Tag des Sieges (Victory Day (May 9)).